General Notes

General Notes

This is the original Kubuntuguide. You are free to copy this guide but not to sell it or any derivative of it. This Kubuntu help guide is neither sold nor distributed in any other medium. Beware of copies that are for sale or are similarly named; they are neither endorsed nor sanctioned by this guide. Kubuntuguide is not associated with Blue Systems (the current sponsor of Kubuntu), Canonical Ltd., or any commercial enterprise.

In this guide, text inside the grey dotted box like this should be put into a Konsole terminal.

Many changes to the operating system can only be done by a User with Administrative privileges. "kdesudo" or "sudo" elevates a User's privileges to the Administrator level temporarily (i.e. when installing programs or making changes to the system). Example:

sudo bash

"kdesudo" should be used instead of "sudo" when opening a Graphical Application (such as the graphical text-editor application kate), which can be done from the command-line terminal, through the "Run Command" dialog box, or as part of the command for starting an application from a menu item. Historically "kdesudo" preserved permissions within the Xwindows environment better (and "sudo" sometimes made undesirable permission changes). While this behaviour does not seem to occur very often any longer, "kdesudo" has always been regarded as safer to use. ("kdesu" was also previously available as well but has now been phased out.) Example:

kdesudo kate /etc/apt/sources.list

Many file management tasks can be accomplished with root Administrative privileges by starting the Dolphin file manager in a similar fashion. (This can be used as a menu item.)

kdesudo dolphin

"man" command can be used to find help manual for a specific command. E.g. "man sudo" will display the manual page for the "sudo" command. Example:

man sudo

While "apt-get" is a fast way of installing programs/packages, you can also use the Muon Package Manager (or even the Synaptic Package Manager), a GUI method for installing programs/packages. Most (but not all) programs/packages available with apt-get install will also be available from Muon Package Manager (or Synaptic Package Manager). In this guide, when you see

sudo apt-get install package

you can search for package in Muon Package Manger (or Synaptic) and install it that way.

Many instructions use the text editor "nano" (which is universally available in Linux). However, it is often easier to use the text editor "kate" in Kubuntu instead.

Kubuntu Screenshots and Screencasts

New Applications Resources

GetDeb - Features the latest versions of software available from the official repositories as well as software not available in the official repositories. Available in easy-to-install .deb files (see Apt and Package Basics).

Other *buntu guides and help manuals

Lubuntu -- Lubuntu can run with as little as 256 Mb RAM. It is better for older machines with limited resources.

Edubuntu -- Edubuntu is a collection of software bundles optimized for use in educational environments. LTSP (thin client terminal server support) and many networking tools are bundled. A version for use with KDE (Kubuntu) is available.